Not me. I'm old school, but I backup my data for emergency purposes. When I 'deliberately' erase everything on my phone or computer, I'm doing so because I want to start over fresh and I feel the same way in regard to purchasing a new or replacement i-device. It is simply what *I* prefer, but again, that's Just Me, D

I'm not a subscriber to the school of "Setup as New" - I did a little digging and found an article in the Apple KBs about exactly what is saved in a backup file. It saves literally nothing relating to jailbreak

That's definitely not true -- I have had jailbreak settings survive iOS restores and re-jailbreaks

Uhh maybe this is just me..I always set it up as a new device...i would make a new account for each device since. I know I'm able to keep multiple restore points for back up, but I always made new email/apple account for 3GS then when I got the 4, repeated the process as well as 4S. So I have numerous accounts now but for each corresponding product.

Note, the iOS is constantly updated along with the phone and I assumed I had to update almost every. Single. App anyways so fresh install was likely better. The only con is indeed: contacts. I tried third party restore like gmail but I stopped since 4 because it was just a failing matter. 500+ contacts whoosh. Then again it's cleaned up. Those I don't keep in contact no longer need to be dead memory on my phone so

Uhh maybe this is just me..I always set it up as a new device if it is a new device...meaning since 3G where iCloud was becoming a new and growing feature..I would make a new account for each device since. Idk why, I know I'm able to keep multiple restore points for back up, but I always made new email/apple account for 3GS then when I got the 4, repeated the process as well as 4S. So I have numerous accounts now but for each corresponding product.

Note, the iOS is constantly updated along with the phone and I assumed I had to update almost every. Single. App anyways so fresh install was likely better. The only con is indeed: contacts. I tried third party restore like gmail but I stopped since 4 because it was just a failing matter. 500+ contacts whoosh. Then again it's cleaned up. Those I don't keep in contact no longer need to be dead memory on my phone so

This makes absolutely no sense, especially since you preface it by saying "I don't know why.."

Uhh maybe this is just me..I always set it up as a new device if it is a new device...meaning since 3G where iCloud was becoming a new and growing feature..I would make a new account for each device since. Idk why, I know I'm able to keep multiple restore points for back up, but I always made new email/apple account for 3GS then when I got the 4, repeated the process as well as 4S. So I have numerous accounts now but for each corresponding product.

This is a TERRIBLE way of handling your iPhones! There is absolutely no need to use multiple iTunes accounts for content -- certainly not based on a new iPhone each year. And as far as I know Apple will not let you combine these accounts so you are stuck purchasing apps multiple times. With one iTunes account you can still choose what you do and do not want to install on your new iPhone each year. I really don't follow your logic here... but to each his/her own I suppose!

Uhh maybe this is just me..I always set it up as a new device...i would make a new account for each device since. I know I'm able to keep multiple restore points for back up, but I always made new email/apple account for 3GS then when I got the 4, repeated the process as well as 4S. So I have numerous accounts now but for each corresponding product.

Note, the iOS is constantly updated along with the phone and I assumed I had to update almost every. Single. App anyways so fresh install was likely better. The only con is indeed: contacts. I tried third party restore like gmail but I stopped since 4 because it was just a failing matter. 500+ contacts whoosh. Then again it's cleaned up. Those I don't keep in contact no longer need to be dead memory on my phone so

Screw that. I have one Apple ID. Let everything Apple be tied to it. Simplify.

We've been following (I think) a middle of the road approach. Since Apple supports separate IDs for iCloud and the App Store our family uses an individual account on each iPhone and iPad for the "personal" aspects (iCloud, contacts, etc) and a separate shared account for the App Store. This way we're able to share apps across all of our 5 devices for a single purchase and still keep all our other personal data separate. It would be nice if Apple made this a bit easier, but it works fine this way once it's set up.

I guess this is slightly off topic - so the answer to the original question (for me) is a clean install with a restore of apps from the app store and data from iTunes.

Re: Setup as new or backup/restore

I've been backing up from iTunes since the first iPhone:

iPhone to iPhone 3G = No issues.

iPhone 3G to iPhone 4 = No issues.

iPhone 4 (iOS 4) to iPhone 4 (iOS 5) = iMessage and FaceTime wouldn't work. I tried restoring and backing up every time without success. The answer was to restore iPhone 4 and set up as a new phone so that iMessage and FaceTime could work.

iPhone 4 (iOS 5) to iPhone 4 (iOS 6) = I had a few Wi-Fi issues where the signal didn't work unless I restarted the phone.

iPhone 4 backup to iPhone 5 = The hell with a backup, set up as a new phone.

Re: Setup as new or backup/restore

Apologies in advanced if this is a dumb question... I'm kinda a newbie here. If I want to do a clean install or "Setup as new iPhone," how do I then get the apps and data back onto my new iPhone 5? I did a backup both to iCloud and to iTunes. Do I just go through the clean install process and then sync with iTunes/iCloud?
TIA

Re: Setup as new or backup/restore

OK... being the usual impatient me, I went ahead and did the "Setup as new iPhone" and am now going through iTunes on my Mac and selecting things to sync. (I hope that this was the right way to do this... but I realize that I can just do it over if I find that it wasn't.)

My new question has to do with apps. Being an interaction designer, I've downloaded TONS of apps in the years since the first iPhone was introduced in 2007. I recently culled my out-of-control collection of apps and organized the 150 or so I wanted to keep into folders (anal, I know). It appears that I've lost all of that, i.e., in iTunes, I'm presented with all the bizillion apps I've ever downloaded, each with its own Install button.

Is that the case, i.e., will I have to the culling and organizing again?

(If so, I'm not panicking. I assume that I can do _another_ pass at this process and this time restore from backup; then take screenshots of the apps/ organization that I had. And finally do the clean install again and use the screenshots to recreate my old scheme. Does this sound right?)

Setup as new or backup/restore

Originally Posted by UI Guy

Apologies in advanced if this is a dumb question... I'm kinda a newbie here. If I want to do a clean install or "Setup as new iPhone," how do I then get the apps and data back onto my new iPhone 5? I did a backup both to iCloud and to iTunes. Do I just go through the clean install process and then sync with iTunes/iCloud?
TIA

Since you restored as new, I would advise you to go to the APP store, select "update" and then "purchased". This will show you a list of everything you've downloaded and purchased from the App Store. Simply select the apps & games you want to put back on your device. You will NOT have to re-purchase them. Alternatively, you can connect to iTunes on your computer and re-sync.

Setup as new or backup/restore

As far as getting data back I seem to remember an app called ibackupbot which you could used to pull data put of backup of old phone, then inject into a backup of your "setup as new phone" not sure if its ios6 compatible as not used for a whole but maybe worth a look.